SpaceX's Starship completed its thirteenth test flight Friday, achieving a clean liftoff, two successful stage recoveries and the first real payload the vehicle has ever carried to space.
What Happened
Booster 20 and Ship 40 lifted off at 5:51 p.m. CT from Starbase in Texas. Booster 20 separated from Ship 40 minutes into the flight and stuck a controlled splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico about six minutes after liftoff, a turnaround from Flight 12 in May when the booster lost several engines during its boostback burn before a hard water landing attempt. The vehicle carried production Starlink V3 satellites rather than mass simulators used on previous flights. The satellites attempted to extend solar arrays and antennas and link with the broader constellation before reentering minutes later, marking only the second flight of the V3 generation.
Why It Matters
The successful mission delivers a win for SpaceX at a moment when its stock has traded below its $135 IPO price since mid-July, with short interest climbing to roughly a third of the tradable float. The clean flight answers whether fixes made after a July 16 abort would hold under real flight conditions. They did on both stages on the first try after the redesign. Getting real hardware through a full deploy sequence keeps Starship on schedule for the payload work NASA is counting on for future Artemis lunar landings.
The Bottom Line
SpaceX has not set a target date for Flight 14, though the company has said it wants to push toward an orbital attempt on the next mission. After Friday's success, that goal appears more within reach.